Macclesfield Town 2(1) v (0)0 Kidderminster Harriers

Once again Harriers failed to follow up a win with another good performance, after their victory over Lincoln in the previous game they gave a very disappointing show and were comfortably beaten by Macclesfield, to rub salt into the wounds Lee Jenkins was sent off in the last minute.

Stuart Watkiss decide to go with the same eleven players who had beaten Lincoln in the previous game, new signing John McGrath had to be content with a place on the bench.  With a strong wind blowing rain into their faces Harriers started the game brightly and could have taken an early lead when Dean Keates' header from a Jenkins cross was well saved by Alan Fettis in the home goal only for the ball to go to Gary Birch who headed over the empty net.

Sloppy defending allowed The Silkmen to take the lead; a long ball out of defence deceived Harriers skipper Wayne Hatswell who allowed Matthew Tipton to get in behind him and lift the ball over John Danby.  The home team were clearly adapting to the conditions better, they had already gone close to opening the scoring when former Harrier Neil MacKenzie had his shot from distance pushed away by Danby.  Macclesfield probably had the best of the possession in the first half, although Harriers created more chances, the two new signings in the Town defence - Danny Swailes and Dave Morley - gave them the strength to withstand most of what Harriers could throw at them.  The Harriers midfield, meanwhile, didn't impose themselves enough on the game, allowing to home team to look far too comfortable.

Harriers had a good chance to level the scores late in the half when Blair Sturrock received the ball just outside the penalty area but curled his shot over the bar and there were a couple of free kicks in dangerous positions that were wasted by Tom Bennett.

Watkiss had clearly had strong words to say to his players at the interval, they came out for the second half in far more determined style but were soon undone by their own sloppiness.  Hatswell challenged Tipton clumsily but the referee waved play on; the Harriers players seemed to pause for the free kick anyway and Tipton ran past Hatswell and crossed to the near post where Jon Parkin headed past Danby.  Harriers made a double substitution sending on McGrath for his debut along with Chris Beardsley and switched to a more attacking 4-3-3 shape to try to get back into the game.

The best spell of the game for Harriers was the last fifteen minutes but they still did not look capable of breaking down the disciplined home defence.  The disappointing Gary Birch ran through the defence on the right but dragged his shot wide of the far post shortly before The Silkmen nearly added a third.  Parkin and Tipton combined on the right with the latter seeing his shot saved at the expense of a corner; from the resultant flag-kick Parkin beat Danby to the ball and headed over him only for Johnny Mullins to clear the ball off the line.

At the other end Jenkins made a good break into the penalty area before pulling the ball back to Birch who miscontrolled it before losing possession.  Then, Hatswell made a surging run from the back and with few options for a pass took the shot himself which nearly deceived Alan Fettis when it took a wicked deflection but the keeper got down to his right well to keep it out.  There was controversy in the last minute of the game when Jenkins brought down Kevin McIntyre ten yards inside the Town half; referee Laws showed the midfielder the red card making him the sixth Harrier this season to receive his marching orders.